Cryptography – Cryptanalysis
Patent
1995-04-03
1998-04-21
Cain, David C.
Cryptography
Cryptanalysis
380 21, 380 25, H04K 100
Patent
active
057426775
ABSTRACT:
An information terminal includes a secure microprocessor and secure non-volatile memory. Data such as authorization data and other service provider related data for subscription information services are certified as to source, and portions thereof decrypted as necessary by the secure processor according to a service provider key and loaded into secure non-volatile memory. The secure data is loaded by multiple service providers or by subscribers themselves, each service provider being adaptably allocated a number of non-volatile storage cells of predetermined length. In this manner, scarce non-volatile memory resources may be conserved and yet made accessible to multiple information service providers upon demand or as requirements change. Once certified by a trusted entity, several information service providers may individually change or modify the reconfigurable memory of the present invention by remote, addressed communication without the intervention of head-end apparatus. Moreover, preferably the service provider signs messages, and may privately encrypt portions of the message, including the authorization data, with its own key and the encrypted data is certified as to source and decrypted upon receipt at the secure microprocessor. In this manner, authorization transactions are protected from service pirates. Moreover, in a similar manner, service acceptance data, such as impulse pay-per-view data, may be signed by an electronic signature of the subscriber, privately encrypted as appropriate with a subscriber provided key and returned to the service provider. Once the service acceptance data is successfully received at a billing computer, the data is erased from secure terminal memory.
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Pinder Howard G.
Wasilewski Anthony John
Cain David C.
Scientific-Atlanta, Inc.
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